Consumers desire dough-based foodstuffs, like pies, pie crusts, biscuits, dinner rolls, and bagels, having a golden-brown exterior and a baked flavor. The traditional method of achieving a brown color and baked flavor on a dough-based foodstuff, like a bakery good, is baking the foodstuff in a conventional oven. These bakery goods can be prepared, refrigerated or frozen, and later reheated to attain the esthetic brown color that consumers equate to palatability.
Traditional baking, however, has disadvantages. One disadvantage is the cost that traditional baking adds to the production of dough-based foodstuff products. A traditional baking step is associated with a relatively high labor and energy cost, which can be wasted if the product is neither used nor consumed immediately, or is subsequently stored, refrigerated, or frozen before the product is consumed. Consumers, food processors, and bakeries, therefore, have sought substitutes for conventional baking that duplicate the brown color and baked flavor imparted to dough-based foodstuffs and that are more economical.
The use of browning and/or flavoring compositions as a replacement for subjecting a foodstuff to a flavoring and browning process step has become a standard industry practice. For example, pyrolysis liquids and dry powder formulations, e.g., liquid smoke compositions and compositions containing hydroxyacetaldehyde (HAA), are useful as a replacement for the browning and flavoring of a foodstuff by direct contact of a foodstuff with smoke produced from burning wood. When applied to the surface of proteinaceous foodstuffs, components of the liquid smoke compositions give the foodstuff a characteristic smoke flavor, and other components react with the proteins to produce a browning typical of smoked foodstuffs. HAA formulations typically are essentially free of food flavoring components, but impart a golden brown color to foodstuffs. Hollenbeck U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,473, Underwood et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,108, and Stradal et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,188, each incorporated herein by reference, are examples of patents that disclose such browning and flavoring compositions, which can be applied directly to a foodstuff to impart a golden brown color and/or a smokey flavor to the foodstuff.
The direct application of such browning and/or flavoring compositions to a foodstuff has disadvantages. For example, direct application of such browning and flavoring compositions to a foodstuff can lead to the premature and undesirable browning and flavoring of a foodstuff during storage, refrigeration, or freezing. Because of this particular disadvantage, conventional baking techniques are still used to cook the majority of bakery goods.
Likewise, a substantial effort has been expended to provide materials or articles that permit foodstuffs to be cooked in a microwave oven, yet exhibit the esthetic properties obtained by cooking in a conventional oven. The most popular device is the plain or patterned susceptor. Plain and patterned susceptors are convenient for use in microwave food cooking applications, are low in cost, and can be quite effective in generating local surface heat which contributes to browning and crisping food surfaces. A microwave susceptor typically comprises a layer of metallized plastic film laminated to a dimensionally stable substrate, such as paperboard. The thickness of the metal is such that the metal absorbs microwave energy and converts it into heat. Such susceptors are commonly used commercially to brown and crispen food in contact with the susceptor. Habeger Jr. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,984, Wendt et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,991, WO 98/08752 and WO 98/35887, and European Patent Application 943,558, each incorporated herein by reference, disclose variations of patterned susceptors that can be used to help brown and crispen a foodstuff heated in a microwave oven.
Boehler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,487 discloses a food wrap for a microwavable food. The wrap has a laminated structure including: (a) a susceptor layer, (b) a coating layer containing flavors, fragrances, and mixtures in encapsulated form. The capsules release the flavors and fragrances when the food wrap is subjected to microwave heating.
The use of susceptors in microwave foodstuff cooking also has disadvantages. In general, susceptors alone do not have the ability to provide a uniform brown color and crisp foodstuff, or the ability to adapt to variations in individual oven field strengths and different loading conditions of the foodstuff. Therefore, unlike heating in a conventional oven, present day susceptors are unable to uniformly and reliably heat, brown, and crispen foodstuffs heated in a microwave oven.
Ideally, it would be advantageous to provide a new method of browning and/or flavoring foodstuffs heated in a microwave oven, which results in uniformly and reliably heated, browned, and/or flavored foodstuffs that possess the esthetic properties of a foodstuff cooked in a conventional oven. It also would be advantageous if the new method imparted the desired esthetic effects of browning and/or flavoring only upon heating, and avoided premature browning while stored, refrigerated, or frozen prior to heating. It also would be desirable if the browning and/or flavoring method could be used both on foodstuffs that are prepared, heated, and sold fresh, refrigerated, or frozen, like in bakeries, and on pre-prepared foodstuffs that are refrigerated or frozen, and later heated, such as pies, pie crusts, and dinner rolls. It would also be advantageous if the browning and/or flavoring method imparted the desired esthetic effects to both microwavable foodstuffs and to foodstuffs previously considered as nonmicrowavable.
A need exists, therefore, for a browning and/or flavoring method and article that overcomes the problems and disadvantages associated with directly applying a browning and/or flavoring composition to the foodstuff, and especially with respect to foodstuffs which are stored, refrigerated, or frozen for a period of time before heating and consumption. The present browning and/or flavoring method and article overcome these disadvantages, while providing foodstuffs having the esthetic properties desired and required by consumers. In addition, the present browning and/or flavoring method and article can be used with all types of foodstuffs irrespective of their intended method of heating, e.g., microwavable or nonmicrowavable foods. The present browning and/or flavoring method and article provide a heated foodstuff with the palatability and esthetic properties equivalent to a foodstuff baked in a conventional oven, while reducing the costs associated with preparing the foodstuffs, without adversely affecting the taste or odor of the foodstuff.